


They Couldn't Have Been Sane

by HetaUniverse



Series: The Beilschmidt's Need To Get Out More [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Bad Touch Trio, College AU, Gen, Human AU, Human Names Used, Slow Burn, aahhhh, also austria is mentioned a lot, also this is NOT GERMANCEST, axis trio is also a friend ship, btt, kindof, roommates au, the btt are NOT dating, though there will be minor gerita
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-10-25 04:24:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10756659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HetaUniverse/pseuds/HetaUniverse
Summary: "Is there even such thing as 'normal' roommates?""Let me rephrase. They couldn't have beensane?!"





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in 2016. Yes. The hell year. Dun dun dunnnnn.
> 
> Enjoy some BTT friendship and Axis Trio fun!

     Ludwig Beilschmidt was 19 going on 20, living with his brother in Berlin, Germany, and had recently graduated high school. He planned to go to college right away, but...

"Uh, West...do you think maybe you could put off college for a few months?"

With their grandfather and parents dead and his brother working two jobs just to keep them both alive, that plan likely wasn't going to happen.

24 year old Gilbert Beilschmidt dropped out of college when their grandfather died two years ago, and with him all Gilbert's dreams of going to an out-of-country college. He worked his ass off for his younger brother, and honestly, Gilbert was starting to think that Ludwig was the only reason he was alive. He wanted to go back to college, to get a degree, but he would always put his brother before himself.

When their grandfather died, he left them a bunch of money, and the brothers promised not to use it unless absolutley necessary. They planned to use it for Ludwig's college, but when Gilbert lost one of his jobs and was on the brink of losing the other, he had to start using some of their inheritence.

Hence the situation they're in now.

"Of course I can. I've been looking for places I can get a job, but so far I've had no luck. Not sure why though..."

Gilbert sat down across from his brother. "It's either because you have little experience or because I've already applied or worked there and they don't want someone related to me working for them. Assholes."

Ludwig sighed as he continued to look through the job applications he had sent. "I doubt they wouldn't hire me because of you. It's probably the experience part."

They prayed and ate dinner quietly. After dinner, Gilbert went to bed and Ludwig got back on his (super slow and out-of-date) laptop.

He was looking for jobs in the area... but around 9PM he somehow ended up looking for cheap out-of-country colleges.

He wanted to close the tab and go to bed, put his dream to rest, when one caught his eye.

It was a college in Venice, Italy. On-campus living was required, but it wasn't too terribly expensive. It wasn't Ludwig's level however.

It was Gilbert's.

The next morning, Ludwig had put together a presentation for Gilbert about why he should go to the school. He thought of every reason Gilbert would bring up for why he shouldn't, and came up with an answer. Except for one.

"What about you?"

Ludwig hadn't thought of what he would do. He paused for a moment.

"I'll stay here and take care of the house. I could take over your jobs, too."

Gilbert shook his head. "No. You made a convincing arguement, West, but there's no way I'm leaving you here."

Ludwig paused again. "In theory, I could come with you."

"On-campus living, West. They wouldn't let you stay and there's no way we could afford an apartment or something for you. It just can't be done, Ludwig." And with that he walked away.

Ludwig sighed and sat back down, looking at the website for the school. There had to be a way for Gilbert to go, there had to be!

Somehow, he stumbled on a page for another school - a community college within the same city. It didn't cost much for tuiton, espically since he already had college credit. Soon, a new plan had formed in Ludwig's mind.

There was still one problem. Where would I stay? The school didn't offer on-campus living. An ad on the side of the screen caught his eye.

Who would've thought an ad would solve all his problems?

"Gilbert."

His brother looked across the table when he stepped in the room.

"Are you going to try and convice me to go to Venice without you? Because that's not happening."

"No, I'm going to convice _you_ to go to Venice with _me_."

"We already discussed this, there's nowhere for you to stay."

"I found a place."

Gilbert finally looked up. "...Where?"

"On the edge of the town. It's an open house, rooms are being rented to college students for 9€ a month, as well as help around the house."

Gilbert frowned. "Sounds suspicious. And it's for college students, not siblings of college students."

"There's a cheap community college within the city as well. I could go there."

His brother sighed. Ludwig made a very convicing arguement, but... is it really worth the risk? What would happen to the house, and the little bird he'd been taking care of?

"We could rent out the house while we're gone, Gilbert." Ludwig answered his thoughts. Gilbert sighed as he looked at the not-very-full cupboards.

"...When does the semester start?"

Ludwig tried to hide his excitement. "September." It was May now.

For a while, Gilbert was silent. Ludwig contemplated asking what he was thinking, but decided against it and waited for his brother to speak first.

"Alright."

It was so quiet, he almost missed it. "Really? We're doing it?"

Gilbert turned to his brother smiling softly. "Yeah. We're doing it. Might as well try."


	2. Chapter 2

     Ludwig emailed the place offering housing for college students that night (he wasn't fluent in Italian and had to use a translator) and got a reply barely five minutes later.

_Dear Ludwig,_

_Ciao!! You can absolutely stay at our house!! I do want to warn you about something I forgot to put on the ad, though. I'm not the only one who lives here, I have brothers too! No worries though, we have lots of open rooms and so far only one other person has asked to stay!! Anyways, I hope to see you in September!!_

_~ Feliciano_

The strangest part about the letter was that, aside from the 'Ciao!' at the beginning, it was written in perfect German. Ludwig wondered if they had used a translator or not. He shook his head and wrote an email back, saying that he would definatley be coming in September. Feliciano emailed him back a minute later with the address.

Meanwhile, Gilbert was enrolling in the school Ludwig had told him about. When it asked him about roommates, he selected the "wherever I can fit" option. A week later he got an email from the school accepting him in.

The months passed quickly and before the brothers knew it they were halfway through August. Ludwig was busily trying to find someone who would rent the house while they were gone and Gilbert tried to keep his job. Easier said then done when your boss hates you. The brothers saved money wherever they could, and ended up selling a lot of their stuff.

A week before they were to leave for Italy, Gilbert got fired. The brothers packed up what they could, and spent as little as possible so they could survive the week.

Two days before they were to leave, someone rented out the house.

They got ready to drive to the airport, looking around at the semi-empty house. Their furniture was still there, but it seemed so lifeless.

Ludwig left the house first, triple checking that they had everything.

Gilbert went up to his room and opened his window.

"Gilbird?" He called out quietly. A chirping was heard, and a little yellow bird peeked out of the tree before flying down to the windowsill. Gilbert petted the bird softly. "I have to go. Stay safe, okay?" The bird seemed to chirp in disagreement. It tried to hop inside. "No," Gilbert stopped the little bird. "You can't come. I'm sorry." He shut the window and walked downstairs.

Outside, he was greeted with chirping and a bird landing on his head. Gilbert sighed. "Fine."

Gilbird chirped smugly.

Ludwig called him over, and Gilbird hid in Gilbert's hair. "We have everything, we're all ready to go." His brother was clearly excited. "You sure you don't want to check one more time?" the older boy asked sarcastically as he walked over to the drivers side. Ludwig crossed his arms. "Orginization is key, brother." Gilbert snickered. "Alright, alright. Just get in the car."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((could you tell i breifly forgot prussia is a clean freak too))
> 
> ((also for the record i am a sophomore in highschool. i have no idea how college works.))


	3. Chapter 3

     The drive to the airport wasn't to dreadfully long, but the wait for the plane was. It took forever for them to get on and have the plane take off. It was a miracle nobody noticed Gilbird.

The flight itself didn't take too long. When they touched down in Venice, the brothers got lunch and decided what to do next.

Gilbert needed to get to his college to find out where his room was.

Ludwig needed to go to the house he was staying at to meet the owner.

Unfortunatley, they were across the city from eachother. In the end, they decided to just split up, much to Gilbert's annoyance.

They got as far as they could together, and split up, promising eachother to be safe.

The brothers only had about 5 months to learn Italian, and despite being rather fast learners, both still had trouble understanding the langauge, espically when spoken fast. Which is to be expected.

Upon arriving at the house, Ludwig was shocked. It was much bigger than he expected. If he was being honest with himself, he was nervous. This sounded much to suspicous to be true. But there was no turning back now. He knocked on the door and there was immediatley a loud crash, followed by the sound of quick footsteps and a thud against the door, and finally the door opening.

Standing in the doorway was a short, Italian man with brown hair and a strange curl on the side of his head, and a huge grin on his face.

The strangest part was that he was covered in what appeared to be marinara sauce.

The man's grin grew as he started speaking in rapid-fire Italian.

"Hello! Are you Ludwig Beilschmidt? Wow, you're so tall! In ogni modo, welcome to Venice! I'm Feliciano Vargas, one of the proprietari di questa casa! I'm so excited for you to live here with me ei miei fratelli! Oh, and there will be another person staying here, he's from Giappone! Ma non preoccupatevi, everyone will have their own room! Oh, you are Ludwig Beilschmidt, right?"

"Um... Yes... Sorry, I'm..." Ludwig desperately tried to explain. The man tilted his head to the side.

"Oh, you're from Germany, right? Is this better?" He suddenly began speaking in German.

"Ah, wait, you speak German?" Ludwig asked, amazed. The man laughed a little. "Yeah, how do you think I wrote that email to you? I learned German when I was little because of a friend of mine. Anyways, you're Ludwig Beilschmidt, right? I'm Feliciano Vargas, it's great to meet you! Please come inside!"

"Ah, thank you Mr. Vargas.." the (much) taller boy said as he stepped inside. Feliciano laughed as he closed the door behind them. "You can just call me Feliciano, or even Feli!!" he grinned, and Ludwig noticed the sauce on the door. "If I may ask, Feliciano, why are you covered in sauce?" The italian looked down at himself, and seemingly only then did he realize he was covered in sauce. "Oh no! Ho dimenticato la pasta!" he shouted and then ran off into the house. Ludwig thought it best to wait for him to come back, until he heard the clattering of something metal and yelling.

"VENEZIANO!! What have you done, you bastard?!"

"Romano!!! Please be careful, don't slip on the sauce!"

"I already did, idiota!"

"Can you two argue quieter? Some of us are trying to take a nap."

"Shut up, Sebastiano!"

"Romano, you should be nicer to him..."

"You shut up too!! Come hai anche riuscito a spill the pasta like this?!"

The closer Ludwig got, the louder the Italian arguing was. There appeared to be three different voices, and one was Feliciano's, and so Ludwig inferred the other two were the brothers Feliciano had mentioned in his emails. Finally, he found them in the kitchen.

Two of the three were covered in sauce. There was also sauce all over the floor and on the side of the stove. Feliciano was arguing with someone who looked like him but with darker hair and a curl on the other side of his head in Italian, while the third boy, who had an oddly-shaped curl and reddish-brown hair, watched and threw in a comment every now and then.

It was utter chaos.

It didn't take long before Feliciano realized Ludwig was there witnessing the mess, and quickly led him to the room he'd be staying in, while the boy Feliciano had been arguing with continued to shout at them in Italian.

"Sorry about Romano. He spent a little too much time with our older cousin so now he's kind of a dick! But we still love him, and he still loves us, even if he doesn't say it." The bouncy Italian explained. "Oh, by the way, Romano's name isn't actually Romano, it's Lovino, but Grandpa Rome always called him Romano and me Veneziano so we just kinda go with it. Our younger brother is Sebastiano, he's still in highschool. But anyways, despite what Romano says, we're all super happy to have you here, Ludwig!! Oh, this is the room you're staying in, I hope you like it!!" The boy finished rambling as the approached a door at the beginning of a hallway. "The other guy should be arriving tomorrow, his flight is longer. I have to go help Romano and Sebastiano clean up, so I'll see you later!!" And with that, Feliciano skipped off.

Ludwig shut the door and looked around the room. After making sure it was free of traps or cameras, he began putting his stuff away. The room was clearly cleaned recently, and the bed was neatly made. He sat down on it once he was finished getting organized. It was only a few minutes before he got a phonecall, startling him. He checked who it was and answered.

"He-"

"West this is absolute _bullshit_ , I hate this place."

Gilbert was yelling in yiddish, something he didn't do often, so Ludwig assumed he was trying to hide from someone.

"Am I correct to assume something happened?" The younger boy asked. "Of course something happened! Why else would I be calling you!?" Came his brother's irritated voice. Ludwig hummed. "Well, explain what happened." Gilbert sighed loudly through the phone.

"Well, it all started after you left..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha I am not good at doing the multiple languages thing


	4. Chapter 4

     After Ludwig left, Gilbert was immediatley overcome with worry. He had to resist the urge to call Ludwig and ask if he was okay every two seconds. Gilbird chirped from his spot on Gilbert's shoulder. He sighed, figuring the bird didn't blame him for being worried. Ludwig hadn't always been his only younger sibling.

Distracted by his thoughts, Gilbert almost tripped into the canal _twice_ , and bumped into a few people.

At one point, Gilbird chirped him out of his thoughts, and he looked up-

just in time to slam is head into another person's head. He stumbled back a few steps, muttering apologizes in German, Yiddish, and finally Italian. The blond man he had bumped into, however, did not seem to be in the mood to forgive him. He started yelling at Gilbert in a language he didn't recognize.

"Regardez où vous allez, idiot! Vous ne vous rendez pas compte que vous n'êtes pas la seule personne à marcher ici? Et si l'un d'entre nous était tombé dans le canal, hein? Alors qu'arriverait-il? Vous devez regarder où vous allez!"

Gilbert stared at him, trying to figure out what language he was speaking in as he rambled. The man noticed, of course, and began rambling some more. Gilbert sighed, and tried to respond, but he was interupted.

"Ahora, ahora, calma a los dos! ¡No hay necesidad de discutir!"

Gilbert and the man yelling at him turned towards the new voice.

The owner of the voice ran towards them, waving his hands in an attempt to calm them down.

"Listen, I'm sure there's no need to fight!" He said in Italian with a smile. "Come, have a drink with me! I guarentee, it will be much better than arguing."

The blond man who had been yelling at Gilbert looked as if he was pondering the other mans request. Gilbert rolled his eyes. "We weren't arguing, I was being yelled at. And no, I will not get drinks with you, I have somewhere to be. Good day." Gilbert responded, and turned to walk away. Gilbird peeked out from his hair and chirped. The poor bird was probably getting hungry, and Gilbert was too. He decided to hurry up and get to the school.

20 minutes later, Gilbert arrived in his dorm to find three beds. He sighed. This meant he'd have two roommates. The thought of having one was bad enough.

Setting his stuff down beside the bed closest to the window, Gilbird flew out of his hair and perched on the windowsill. Gilbert smiled softly and sat on the bed, contemplating whether to call Ludwig or not.

His decision was made for him when two people loudly entered the room.

"Comme c'est bizarre que nous sommes des colocataires, Francis! C'est tout à fait la coïncidence si je le dis moi-même!" The first man laughed.

The blond man smiled. "Oui, je suppose que c'est une coïncidence chanceuse, Antonio! Une coïncidence heureuse en effet!" He laughed with the other man, and the noticed Gilbert. "Hm? Qui es-tu?"

They were the men from the street earlier. The blond man who ranted at him in a foreign langauge, and the other who offered to get them both drinks.

"It's you." Gilbert frowned. The brunette stepped forward with a hand on his chest. "This is quite the coincidence indeed!! You both are my roommates, this'll be amazing!! My name is Antonio Fernández-Carriedo, I'm from Spain!! What might your name be?" He grinned. Gilbert deadpanned. "Gilbert Beilschmidt. I'm from Germany."

Antonio grinned. "Wow, really? I can speak German you know, my father is a linguist, and linguistics is what I'm getting my degree in, so I know a bunch of languages."

Meanwhile, the blond man seemed just as upset as Gilbert, if not more. "I hope you will learn to watch where you are going, Gilbert." He spat as he walked to the bed furthest from Gilbert. The German scoffed. "Wow, I didn't think you knew any other language besides whatever it was you were speaking earlier. And even then, you don't seem to be able to use contractions." He shot a glare to the blond, who whole-heartedly returned it. "The language is called French, vous porcs non cultivés. It is my native language, and I wish it were still my only."

Antonio sat down on the middle bed, between the two of them. "Now, now, let's all be friends, okay? After all, we'll be stuck with eachother until next June, at the least. Also.." he turned to the blond. "You haven't introduced yourself yet!"

The blond rolled his eyes. "Francis Bonnefoy. As you could have inferred from my speaking of French earlier, I am from France."

Gilbert sighed to himself and turned towards the window, where Gilbird was sunbathing. The bird stirred, and Gilbert suddenly remembered that the little guy hadn't been fed yet.

As he was searching through his bag for some seed, Antonio and Francis began having another conversation in a mixture of French and Italian. "Finally." He muttered under his breath as he pulled out the birdseed. Taking a small handful and setting it on the windowsill in front of the little yellow puffball, Gilbird opened his eyes and chirped loudly a few times, getting the attention of the other two men in the room.

"Gah! Why is there a bird in here?! Open the window, shoo it out!!" Francis yelled as he tried to undo the lock on the window. Gilbert jumped up and began pulling his arms away. "No!! He doesn't know the area, he'll get lost!!"

"Good!"

"No, not good!!"

Antonio tried to break them up and before long the three were on the floor, wrestling. Gilbert and Francis broke free, and began glaring at eachother again.

"Why do you care about that stupid bird?!"

"Because he's _my_ bird!"

"Then put him in a cage!"

"He doesn't have one!"

"Why not?!"

"We had to sell it!"

The argument continued, until they didn't have anything more to say and just simply glared at eachother.

It didn't take long for Francis to begin getting uncomfortable.

"Stop staring at me like that, you are being weird!" He shouted, but it had no bite.

Gilbert didn't let up, of course. Not until Gilbird chirped and few up to his shoulder. He stared at the ground for a bit, and then walked into the bathroom and locked the door.

Pulling out his phone, he called up Ludwig, making a mental note to speak in Yiddish so Antonio couldn't understand him.

Before Ludwig answered, however, Gilbert heard Francis say one thing from the other side of the door.

"His...his eyes...his eyes are red."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't write. Also I'm not dead hi


	5. Chapter 5

     It had been a month since the Beilschmidt brothers moved to Italy and started school. After Gilbert's ranty phonecall to Ludwig, his brothers only advice was to calm down and try to at least learn to coexist with them. At this Gilbert had sighed.

_"I know, but still. They couldn't have been **normal** roommates?"_

_Ludwig chuckled. "Is there even such thing as 'normal' roommates?"_

_"Let me rephrase. They couldn't have been **sane**?"_

On Ludwig's side, Feliciano and his brothers Lovino and Sebastiano were not going to try and kill him or do anything else horrible, and were all decent people. Well, Lovino hated him, and voiced it regularly, but other than that it was good.

The other person staying at the house was a man about his age from Japan, named Kiku Honda. Feliciano seemed to click with the both of them, and the three frequently studied together. Or, tried to.

With Gilbert, he managed to coexist with Antonio and Francis, whom had become best friends. Antonio frequently tried to get Gilbert to join in their shenanigans, and occasionally Francis would too, but to no avail.

That didn't stop them from trying.

Now, it was nearly October, and Rosh Hashanah was rapidly approaching. Performing tashlikh wouldn't be a problem, seeing as Venice was surrounded by naturally flowing water, but there was no known synagogue in the city. Ludwig had asked Feliciano about it, but the Italian had no idea.

"Maybe your roommates know of one?" Ludwig thought. Gilbert shook his head, even though he knew his brother couldn't see. "The two of them are Catholic, first of all, so I doubt they'd know what a synagogue is. Secondly, they aren't from Italy, so they probably wouldn't know where to look. And third, there's no way I'm asking them and revealing information about myself. They try to pry way too much already."

Unbeknownst to Gilbert, Antonio was on the other side of the door, listening. It seemed creepy, and honestly it was, but it was Gilbert's fault for talking so loud.

After some research, the Spaniard found a place called the "Chabad of Venice," which seemed to be a synagogue. But how to tell Gilbert?

It just so happened that his German roommate was taking a shower at the moment-and had left his phone on his bed.

Upon turning it on, he was greeted with a picture of Gilbert and another, blond man, smiling and holding a half-empty stein. After looking at it for a moment, Antonio shrugged and opened the phone. Gilbert didn't have a lock, strangely.

After looking through Gilbert's contacts, he found one named "West." The contact picture was of the same blond man on Gilbert's lockscreen. Thinking back to Gilbert's phonecalls, he called the person he was talking to "West"...

Antonio set Gilbert's phone back on his bed and pretended like he had been reading. The water had turned off a little while later, and Gilbert came out after a few moments in sleepwear.

"Who is the man on your lockscreen?"

Gilbert turned towards the Spaniard. "What?" Antonio continued to look at his book. "I checked the time on your phone while you were in the shower. Your lockscreen is a picture of you and a blond man. Who is he?"

Gilbert was silent for a moment. "He's my younger brother."

Antonio's face lit up as he turned towards Gilbert. "You have a little brother?! Finally, something we have in common!!" Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "You have a younger brother?" Antonio nodded. "His name is Fausto, he's living in Portugal right now for school. He turned 21 back in June. What about your brother?"

Gilbert turned on his phone and looked at his lockscreen. "West, well, Ludwig, is going to school on the other side of the city. I wouldn't let him stay in Germany alone. Actually, he's the one who convinced me to come here..." He trailed off for a moment as the screen of his phone went dark. "He'll be turning 20 in just a few days."

Antonio grinned. "Ooooh, what did you get him?! Or, if you haven't yet, what are you going to get him?!"

Gilbert looked out the window. "I can't get him anything. We're both practically broke."

Antonio's grin dropped and he was silent for a moment.

"...We could help you, if you want."

Gilbert looked down at the bed. "That wouldn't be right. Besides, I don't want to have to owe you."

The bruntette leaned in closer with a stern look on his face. "You want your brother to have a nice birthday, right? Let me help you. The only thing I ask in return is a chance to be your friend."

Gilbert sighed. "I'll sleep on it."

A soft grin appeared on Antonio's face. "I'm sure you won't regret it, Gilbert. And you know," he continued, suddenly remembering why he had looked through his roommates phone in the first place, "there's this nice place I found out about that you could take him to, it's called the Chabad of Venice. I guess it's kind of like religous grounds or something, at least I think that's what a synagogue is."

Gilbert suddenly whipped his head towards him. "You found a synagogue?"

"Hm?" Antonio acted coy. "Do you know what that is?" Gilbert nodded. "Can you tell me where it is?" Antonio smiled.

Step One of Operation: Befriend Gilbert seems to be a success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY I ACTUALLY DID RESEARCH ON JEWISH HOLIDAYS AND TRADITIONS AND STUFF AND SO IF ANYTHING IS INACCURATE I WILL BE VERY DISSAPOINTED IN MYSELF
> 
> ALSO IM NOT DEAD WOW


End file.
